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Tuesday, 26 May 2015

The art of fanart

When I get some inspiration of drawing, I always think of drawing fanart. I just love drawing fanart. It brings me lots of joy and releases my stress from life.

People draw fanart with different reasons. I draw because it's a potion of unrealistic fantasy which is a gateway to a short escape from the world and I can heal myself there. I gain satisfaction through drawing the artworks I love. I'll draw it my own style, enjoy it, and if possible, pass the joy on.

But the fanart I'm talking about is creative fanart, not just copying. It has to have something individual, contain some readable passion. Like turning characters into one's own drawing style and unique atmosphere. To create a new universe from an exist work, that's the art of fanart.

In Japanese doujin world, it's easy to see one character in many totally different styles. Yet you still can tell who is the character from what artwork. That's the greatest fun of fandom. I'm talking about artists like Lily for Naruto, ササクレセンチメンタル for Death Note, 一宮思帆 for Gin Tama, and my forever love Houseki Hime for Attack on Titans (and many other works). Supporting those fanart artists doesn't mean I don't support original. Sometimes people are even introduced to a new piece of work because of fanart. We should respect them equally.

I understand some people oppose fanart because of copyright issue. But I don't want to and I'm not talking about right or wrong here. Stay creative is not about right or wrong. If people see fanart as steal or copy art, then they must underestimate the value of it. A world without fanart is a boring and unhealthy world.